Here's Why The Food Paradise Narrator Sounds So Familiar
As a rock musician, Jesse Blaze Snider isn't headlining festivals in front of thousands of fans like his dad Dee Snider did with Twisted Sister (via Guitar World). The younger Snider's biggest musical accomplishment may have been getting a couple songs on ESPN's Monday Night Football and college football playlists.
Snider's first love might be comic book writing. He wrote a six-issue graphic novel DC Comics released in 2009 (via CBR News). But comic books never quite paid the bills, either. Turns out Snider is in another line of work altogether. Whether you know it or not, you're probably familiar with this work, even if you've never read his comic books or heard his music.
Snider has narrated the long-running Travel Channel show Food Paradise since 2014 (via IMDb). There's no reason to assume Snider's famous name got him the job, either. There's something about his voice that holds your attention. It floats around in a high register, but the 38-year-old Snider finishes most of his thoughts by dropping into a low, gravelly tone (via YouTube). "I would have bet that voice belonged to someone in their 50s," someone on Reddit commented.
Another Redditor replied, "That's what I thought, but I'm like three weeks older than him! I should start smoking to get that husky voice." (Cigarettes are bad for your health. We do not recommend smoking as a way to change the character of your voice.)
Jesse Blaze Snider says he makes six figures in voiceover work
Jesse Blaze Snider's natural, engaging way of speaking landed him voiceover work in commercials, too. Before he was the narrator on Food Paradise, Snider was the commercial voice of GameStop, Cheetos, Pizza Hut, and Kia Motors (via Gig Town). Snider was proud enough of his voiceover work to shoot a YouTube video at his talent agency's holiday party in 2011 and give viewers a quick sample of his Pizza Hut tagline: "Want more taste? Get America's favorite pizza: Pizza Hut, now online."
Snider talked about the importance of his voiceover work in a 2017 interview with CowGirlZen Entertainment. "Honestly, it's the only thing that pays my bills," he said. "I make money in comic books and music, but it's not enough to raise a family."
"Music and comics are rarely steady and even when it is, it is a shamefully small fee," Snider added. "I can be the voice of Pizza Hut or Kia Motors and make six figures." Snider told CowGirlZen Entertainment he definitely had a knack for voiceover work. "At a certain point, I'd become a very good 'reader' of copy, and I tried to break into voiceovers with crazy success."
Keep an eye out for new episodes of Food Paradise, and keep an ear out for a certain smooth-talking heavy-metal son while you're at it.